What is Health Informatics? The systems and goals of the health care sector are combined with the tools and techniques of data analytics in the field of health informatics. Health informatics has contributed to some of the largest developments in healthcare during the past two decades, including the improvement of patient care, modernization of treatment regimens, and containment of public health outbreaks.
Jobs are frequently in demand and pay higher than average salaries due to the influence that health informatics has had on healthcare and the specialized skill set that professionals must possess. Continue reading to find out more about the area, some of the typical occupations that characterize it, and how to get started.
What is Health Informatics?
A interdisciplinary subject called health informatics employs data analytics to generate new ideas for the healthcare sector. Big data and artificial intelligence are used by experts in the area to enhance patient care, public health, and overall health outcomes through digitizing health care information, systems, and processes.
There are numerous applications. Health care informatics is used to develop new medical technology, devise public health policies, and tailor treatment plans in addition to enhancing patient portals, developing cloud-based health care systems, and. By streamlining the delivery of healthcare and centralizing crucial data like medical records, the discipline of health informatics is also expected to enhance patient outcomes and increase the effectiveness of healthcare systems.

Also Read: 15 Highest Paid Photography Jobs
Health Information Management versus Health Informatics
Health informatics and health information management are not the same, although having many similarities.
By collecting and preserving patient data and creating procedures around it, health information management aims to manage health care data.
Meanwhile, health informatics leverages gathered data to generate innovative methods of providing care to both people and the general public, improve patient care, and create health care insights.
Health Informatics Pay, Job Prospects, and Roles
The job prospects and anticipated salaries for data-oriented health care workers are favorable because the area blends data analytics with health care. You will discover some of the positions that make up the field, the salary range you may anticipate from them, and the general career outlook in this part.
Pay for Health Informatics
The salaries for the jobs that make up the field are frequently above average. The average annual salary for some of the most popular jobs are as follows, per Glassdoor:
- Specialist in health informatics: $66,773
- Data Analyst: $71,228
- Analyst in health informatics: $76,726
- Specialist in nursing informatics: $135,125
Job Outlook
The BLS does gather statistics on the health care industry as well as data-oriented occupations, although not expressly collecting data on health informatics. The future of data-driven health care is particularly bright when the outlooks for these two sectors are combined.
The BLS predicts that the number of jobs in the health care sector will increase by 2 million between 2021 and 2031, or 13%. Data analysts fall into the category of operations research analysts, which is expected to rise by 23 percent over the same time span, according to the BLS. In essence, it is safe to expect that the field of health informatics will continue to grow in the near future.
Roles in Health Informatics
It includes a wide range of vocations because it is a multidisciplinary field with multiple applications in the health care sector, including:
- Data analyst
- Systems analyst
- Database analyst
- Nursing informatics specialist
- Health informatics specialist
- Clinical informatics specialists
- Health informatics analyst

How to Start in the Field of Health Informatics
Different health informatics positions call for varying qualifications and degrees of schooling. You must complete the appropriate studies if you want to pursue a career in health informatics. The following are some of the most typical credentials held by health informatics specialists:
Certification in Health Informatics:
Numerous certificates are available for both seasoned professionals and those wishing to break into the industry. Certificates, as opposed to longer-term degrees, are often the outcome of shorter study programs or an exam that evaluates your present knowledge and skills. Common certifications consist of:
- The Certified Health Data Analyst (CHDA) certification is offered by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). You need a bachelor’s degree or higher from an approved university, a RHIT or RHIA accreditation, or both in order to sit for the CHDA exam. AHIMA advises course participants to have three years of prior experience working with healthcare data.
- Professionals who pass a 150-item multiple-choice exam are eligible for the AMIA Health Informatics Certificate (AHIC), which is offered by the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA). You need a master’s degree or above to be eligible for the certificate, while the requirements vary depending on your level of education and professional job experience.
Associate’s Degree in Health Informatics
The core ideas needed to enter the field are covered in associate degrees in health informatics or a related discipline. You can use these courses to get ready for various entry-level jobs, like medical coding.
Associate of Applied Science (AAS) in Health Information Technology and Health Information Management Associate Degree are two common designations for associate degrees in this area.
Bachelor’s degree in Health Informatics
A Bachelor of Science (BS) in health informatics or a similar degree, such as computer science or health science, is probably beneficial if you’re looking to enter the field. Some employers might also favor applicants with bachelor’s degrees in addition to training pupils in profession-specific abilities.
Master’s in health informatics
Your chances of being hired for more senior roles can increase if you have a master of science (MS) in health informatics or a closely connected discipline, like public health. A master’s degree is frequently required for or advantageous for certain typical positions in the industry, such as informatics director, pharmacy informaticist, and nursing informatics experts.

Frequently Asked Questions
What is Health Informatics?
The goal of health informatics (HI), also known as medical informatics, is to employ information technology to effectively gather, secure, and comprehend health data in order to improve patient-physician relationships.
What are the types of health informatics?
Bioinformatics, clinical informatics, consumer health informatics, and public health informatics are all subfields of medical informatics.
What is the role of health informatics?
In order to plan, enhance, and deliver patient services and care, you will retrieve, analyze, interpret, and display health data and information.
What is one of the key obstacles to progress in health informatics?
The fact that data are hazy, inaccurate, and inconsistent is one of the key reasons health informatics is challenging.
With the loads of information supplied in this article, we hope we have been able to answer your question on “What is Health Informatics?”.
ALSO READ:
- 12 Jobs in the US Navy
- How To Get Into the Music Industry
- 11 Best Free Online Painting Courses
- Best Online Accounting Masters Degrees in the US
- 9 Best Community Colleges in Colorado
- How to Answer Salary Expectation Question Convincingly
- 10 Best Technical Colleges in Georgia